Air pressure transfer

I was wondering if this is a good idea.

My brew set up is out in the barn but my fermentation room is in the basement. So I thought I could drain the boil pot into a corny keg then truck it to the basement. There use air pressure to transfer the wort into the primary. From that point I could use gravity to rack to the secondary,keg or bottles. I figure as long as I filter the air everything should be OK plus it would give the wort a little aeration.

Why wouldnt you just rack it to the primary initially? Seems like more work and a little more risk of contamination to me.

AleHole said:

Why wouldnt you just rack it to the primary initially? Seems like more work and a little more risk of contamination to me.

Click to expand...

You are right. The reason is I don't want to lift 5 gal. + primary into position so I can gravity rack to the secondary and final keg or bottles. And a little extra work seems like a small price to pay to keep from hurting my back. I guess I could just buy a pump but I've already got an air compressor and portable air tank. Plus it seems like a good way to both aerate and rack.

I'm wondering if anyone has tried something like this and what kind of results they got.

Also wondering whether this seems like maybe a good idea or a nutty idea.

I wouln't use anything but CO2 for a pressurized gas transfer.

Also see this post.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=2910

I think it would work. The key here is that you said wort into primary. The air pressure could serve to get oxygen into the wort prior to the start of fermenting in the primary, which is a good thing.

Grog's right. I didn't read it carefully. It'd work, but you already know about the extra work and risks. In the end it sounds safer that hauling glass.

Seems like it should work for transfering to primary. Be sure to filter the air.

- magno

Air compressors sometimes contain traces of oil and that could end up in the air you plan on using. I wouldn't risk it without some kind of filter to make sure the air from your tank don't contaminate your brew.